Adjusting to normality
by Dippindots326
Summary: It's been exactly one year since Olympus triumphed for the second time over the Titans. Percy, Annabeth, and Nico all attend a boarding school together, but even with friends, adjusting isn't easy. My first story ever. Some Percabeth and several OCs.
1. Normality

Adjusting to normality.

Chapter One.

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

Written by dippindots326

It's been exactly one year since the Titan army fell, and Kronos was defeated. Percy and Annabeth are both living relatively monster-less lives in New York, and are going to a boarding school together. Percabeth, might be OOC, this is my first story ever, so don't be too harsh please.

Percy's vision gradually shifted from darkness to a smudgy blurry fresco of reality. He lay there a while thinking about nothing. He could hear faint snoring coming from his roommate, Nico, and the drone of cars and people in the streets below. A pattering was hitting their window. It was raining.

His mind drifted into a kind of limbo, he could think of nothing but trying to fall asleep, all the while knowing that he would not be able to sleep again until that night.

………tonight…….

What was tonight?

Or more importantly, what was today? He snapped into awareness at once. He was laying on top of his text books. The text books he should have been studying. The text books that were now covered in drool and Gods knew what else.

He threw a quick glance at his alarm clock, which had failed once again to wake him, and his situation grew worse. Statistics would start in a matter of minutes. He had no time to study.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," he muttered frantically under his breath. He grabbed his uniform and flung it on, knowing he would get reprimanded for his shirt being unbuttoned, his tie being undone, but he couldn't stop to fix it now. He yanked his books into a haphazard stack, and kicked Nico's bed as hard as he could.

Now, Nico was quite a bit younger than he and Annabeth, but he had turned out to be something of a genius. He had most of the same classes as Percy, but had a few super advanced ones with Annabeth.

"Wuzzawann………?" murmured Nico threw a layer of satin bed sheets.

"Statistics! Test! Now!"

"Ohhhh, yeah. Be right there…."

His head dropped onto his bed.

Not bothering to try again Percy sprinted out the dorm, pulling his always present map out of his pocket as he did so, and leaving the door swinging. He quickly scanned the map. His dyslexia prevented him from making any sense of it, but he could usually recognize the right mismatched pile of letters as his statistics classroom.

No such luck today.

"FUCK!" Percy shouted a little too loudly, and he was off again.

He went down the stairs, up them again, down again, through the schools main courtyard, into the academics building, into the girls bathroom, out of the girls bathroom, and finally into the Statistics classroom.

"Mr. Jackson, I'm glad you decided the test was worth your time after all."

Professor Johansson had been all jolly and chocolate eating when they had met at orientation. Percy had thought then that with a lazy teacher like him he might actually pass. However, Professor Johansson had turned out to be something of a hard-ass.

"Here's your test Jackson, I had this one printed in extra big letters just for you."

Percy flushed. It wasn't his fault he had dyslexia, and that jackass of a professor knew it. He never gave Annabeth or Nico any shit about being dyslexic. But that was probably cause they actually made good grades. A few kids snickered. Annabeth glanced up and rolled her eyes before returning to her paper. Nico had somehow made it to the room before Percy, and as Percy watched he flipped over the first page and began working on the back. Fucking shadow travel.

Percy picked up a test from the professors desk and walked, his wet shoes squeaking all the way, to his desk where he flopped down and took out a pen. Before he uncapped it, he checked to make sure it wasn't Riptide, his magical sword that took the form of an ordinary pen when he wasn't using it.

The last time he had uncapped Riptide in class had not been pretty. Controlling the mist was probably one of the only useful skills he had left from his camp days. Sure the camp was still there, but there was no need for it now.

With Kronos unlikely to ever again regain consciousness, the Titans powerless, and the monsters weakened, there wasn't a whole lot for a half-blood to do. Percy sighed. Sure, the old days had been dangerous, but at least they weren't so damn boring.

There was a rustling as Annabeth and a few other students rose to turn in their papers. Nico scribbled something on the backside of his test and handed his in too.

He sighed again. 'What am I going to do now?' he pondered.

Of course, if he wanted too he could just chill out underwater in Poseidon's palace for the rest of eternity. Maybe Annabeth, Grover, Tyson, and some others could even stay there with him. He tried to imagine it, non stop drinking, partying, swimming, all the television and video games he could ever want… It seemed perfect when Poseidon offered, and he knew the invite still stood.

…But…

That was the easy way out. How could he show his face to his friends when he had ducked out of real responsibility and real life? But it was so much harder for him than anyone else. Many of the campers were talented and had something they could fall back on, once being a hero became redundant. Not Percy. How far could swordplay take him in the real word, in New York?

Not very far.

…The rain splashed against the window…

Percy grinned. So did the stickman that had formed from raindrops on the window. The stickman pulled out a sword and began to duck and weave and jab at an invisible foe.

Annabeth kicked him, hard. Percy's concentration shattered and the stickman slid down the wall, as if being dragged away by some malevolent force. Percy turned to glare at Annabeth, but before he could, she shot him a sharp look and motioned towards his test.

He hadn't even written his name. Just then the bell rang loudly and clearly, making them both jump.

"Oh, screw it.."

Percy stood up and walked to the front of the room. He dropped the blank test down on the pile of papers on the teaching podium and left the room. As he squeaked away from the classroom he remembered why he had been thinking about tonight. With an earsplitting squeak of wet sneakers, he turned around and waited by the door. He didn't have to wait long. In a few seconds Annabeth rounded the door, as perfect as ever, and Percy took her hand and pulled her into a kiss, which she happily returned.

A/N: How was it? If I get positive reviews I guess I can continue it.


	2. The Movies

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

Adjusting to normality.

Chapter Two.

Written by dippindots326

It's been exactly one year since the Titan army fell, and Kronos was defeated. Percy and Annabeth are both living relatively monster-less lives in New York, and are going to a boarding school together. Percabeth, might be OOC, this is my first story ever, so don't be too harsh please.

After a few seconds their lips parted with an audible pop, like when a rubber band snaps, only a lot more wet. Students passing in the halls made gagging faces or looked away as they passed them by. Percy winked at her and she grinned in return. They joined the mom of students rushing out of the cramped hallways into the school's courtyard. That had been their final mid-term, and they were now on break for the next four days.

"How'd you do on the test" Percy asked casually, as they strolled through the halls.

"Oh, I think I did well, but did you get the last bonus question…?"

Percy was staring at her as if she were missing a point.

"Oh, Right. Why am I even asking you?" Annabeth rolled her clear gray eyes. They reflected the gray, stormy sky and shined like polished silver. Sometimes Percy simply stared at her, and remembered how lucky he was to have her. However when she caught his stare she would often start making creeper jokes. She was his best friend, first kiss, first girlfriend; and he had never cared for anyone more than her in his life. Not even the feelings he once felt for Calypso could hold a match to this.

"Excited about our double date with Nico tonight" she asked, trying to start up conversation again.

"Um.. Not really. He always picks the freakiest people to go out with. Have you met this one yet?"

"No, but he seems to really like her."

"He _seems_ to like all of them."

Nico, being a little short and baby cheeked, was instantly declared the "little cutie" of his grade and he seemed that every girl in his grade was willing to go out with him. Usually these feelings left them after the first date. Nico was not the most sociable person, and this rubbed pretty much every girl he asked out the wrong way. You couldn't really blame them, all he did was mumble a few things, and stare at his plate darkly. Sadly, Nico would tell them the date went well, and then be shocked into depression when the girl called the relationship off. Percy stopped feeling sorry for him after number four. Anyways, Annabeth and Percy were to meet lucky number seven tonight. They cared for Nico, but his love life had become something of a joke between them. As they walked into the schools courtyard, Percy willed the water droplets to miss them, somehow. A few people stared, but then just shook their heads, like they'd been hallucinating. Together they stole towards their favorite coffee house, where they both ordered cinnamon rolls.

"So you failed yet another test eh?" Annabeth grinned at him.

"Actually I think I did very good on this one." He replied with a little too much enthusiasm in his voice.

"I saw your paper. Did you fall asleep again while you were studying? Did you try those concentration techniques I looked up for you?"

"Yeah…they didn't work too well. "

Annabeth sighed. Percy was always screwing up like this. Neither of them had any idea how he was still in the school, but they both had an idea that some divine benefactor was behind it.

"Well," Annabeth said, getting up from her seat and brushing off her hands into Percy's lap, "what should we do until its time for the date?"

"Whatever you want. I don't have anything planned for today."

They eventually decided to catch a movie. As they neared the cinema they heard the sounds of scuffling coming from its alley. Percy looked at Annabeth. She nodded.

"Is anyone there?" Percy called into the shadowy alley.

No answer came.

"Hello?" Annabeth took a step forward.

There was a shuffling noise, and a boy in dirty rags with bloodshot eyes came into view. He glared at the two demigods and returned to the shadows. They realized he had been sleeping. A little shaken, they agreed to cancel the movie.

"We should call someone," Annabeth insisted, "he's obviously homeless and starving."

"There's something off about him though. I can't place it…" Percy murmured under his breath. The rain was still pouring. The boy was probably freezing.

"Okay, let's go get him." Percy said, and together they entered the alley.

As they stepped into the alley the air chilled. Something was wrong. Riptide grew heavy in Percy's pocket. He pulled it out but didn't uncap it. Not yet.

There was a sniffling sound, and the sharp ring of a blade being drawn. There was a bright flash, and suddenly two burning orbs were hovering in the darkness. They started moving towards them, slowly at first, than faster.

Percy uncapped Riptide. Annabeth pulled out the knife Luke gave her from its hiding spot on her ankle. There was another flash, and suddenly a long thin sword of celestial bronze was pushing against Riptide. Percy beheld the boys snarling face. His eyes were like fireballs. Just like….Hyperion. Suddenly the boy disentangled their blades with a masterful stroke, and in the same motion, brought it down again. A golden wave of fire followed in the swords wake.

_Is it possible?_ Percy thought.

Annabeth sprinted forward, jumped, and kicked the boy in the chin, following up with a quick jab that cut his arm. The boy's eyes suddenly went out. They were golden.

There was another bright flash. The boy was gone, leaving nothing but large scorch marks on the wall and a smoking ring where he had been standing.


	3. Danger

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

Adjusting to normality.

Chapter Two.

Written by dippindots326

It's been exactly one year since the Titan army fell, and Kronos was defeated. Percy and Annabeth are both living relatively monster-less lives in New York, and are going to a boarding school together. Percabeth, might be OOC, this is my first story ever, so don't be too harsh please.

"What the hell was that?" Percy said to Annabeth. She shook her head, and appeared to be in deep thought.

"I don't know , Percy, but we shouldn't stick around. I have a bad feeling about this."

The two of them hailed the next cab and went straight back to the school. They paid off the cab and entered. As they walked through the lobby Annabeth turned to him. "I think we should call off the date and get Nico back too. Do you have your cell?"

Percy felt through his pockets. Nothing. He must have dropped it.

"It must fallen out while we were fighting that guy. I'll call him with the wall phone in our dorm room."

"I hope nothing happened to him." She muttered softly. Percy took her hand. Together they pushed open the door leading to the wide open courtyard. It was dark out, but there were still a few people playing Gaga in the pits, or shooting hoops. Percy suddenly felt very tired, as if he had been floating on air his whole life and suddenly he had hit the ground hard.

"I'm pretty tired, see you tomorrow Wise-girl."

She smiled when she heard her nick-name. Suddenly, her hand shot through the air and grabbed the hair in the back of Percy's head. Before Percy could blink she was kissing him passionately, in front of everyone. One person in the Gaga pits stopped watching the ball to stare just as it came rolling at him and hit him in the leg. Cursing the kid jumped out of the ring. Annabeth pulled back first and smiling naughtily she walked towards the girl dorms.

"Night Seaweed Brain."

Percy walked away dreamily, almost tripping several times, and with a noticeable bulge in his pants. He felt a wide smile split his face. Everything would be ok. It didn't matter what that kid in the alley was, after all, they had face the titan lord himself and brought him down together. They could handle this no problem.

Right?

He opened the door to his dorm, and was surprised to see Nico there. He was curled up on the couch watching TV. Closing the door behind him, Percy walked over to his bed and flopped on. Nico turned towards Percy on the couch.

"Bad news. I got attacked today for the first time since Kronos died."

"He's not dead, remem- wait what?"

Nico's gaze was steady and his eyes were dead serious.

"I got attacked by a demi-god."

A cold knot twisted in Percy's stomach. Could the demi-god that attacked Nico have been the same guy, or even worse, working with him? Maybe they were trying to get rid of all the people who had to do with Kronos' defeat. Maybe-

No.

He was over-thinking it. That wasn't possible. All the demi-gods were on the gods' side now, since they were all respected and claimed. There couldn't be any divine children still out to get them. Impossible. Every single warrior in the titan army had claimed fealty to the gods.

"I was attacked too Nico. Did your attacker have eyes like… fire?"

Nico raised an eyebrow.

"My attacker had eyes glacier blue, they almost glowed. If there's one thing I remember about him, it's his eyes. Percy, this is bad. There could be more. We need to warn camp."

Percy wasn't worried about camp at that moment. A single name was ringing in his head. They were separated. She didn't have any other demi-god friends at the school. She was completely alone and completely vulnerable.

In a single motion he was out of bed and dialing.

"Hello?" grumbled the voice of a sleepy Annabeth from the phone.

"Annabeth, are you alright? Is anyone else there?"

"Only my room-mate, Percy what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Get some sleep. I'll tell you in the morning."

He hung up and shuffled back to his bed. His socks slid off as he walked and he tripped and caught himself. Nico stifled a laugh. Percy glared at him and walked the rest of the way, making sure to pick up his feet. He sat down hard. Nico sat on his bed across the room from him. They both stared at the floor.

"Good night."

Nico slid under his beds covers and turned towards the wall. In a few seconds he was snoring. Percy was still on the edge however. He lay staring at the ceiling, thinking about Annabeth, and squeezing Riptide so tight that it hurt. Eventually his eyes blinked shut, and Riptide slid from his hand onto the floor. After a minute it vanished, only to reappear inside of Percy's pajamas.

Was this a dream or reality. He felt tired but this couldn't be real, could it? Percy was staring out his window. A pair of glowing blue eyes stared back.

Percy woke up, for the third time that night. Seeing that he was conscious he tried to just close his eyes again. Sleep didn't come. Apparently his body was adamant in staying up. Making a grumbling whining noise directed at nothing in particular he sat up in bed, his hair puffing out like an afro. Percy stared through his blurry half closed eyes at his alarm clock. He couldn't see anything. Grumbling even louder than before, he grabbed the clock and pulled it towards him until it was less than an inch away from his eyes.

It was two in the morning. His grumbling got louder, and a half conscious Nico half threw a sock at him, which fell quite a bit short. Percy didn't want to wake Nico by watching TV, so he pulled on a warm jacket and headed for the courtyard to take a nice walk. As he exited the dorms he felt the sweet air rush into his lungs. Smiling sleepily he started off in the direction of the fountain. A pair of eyes followed him.


	4. Water

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

Adjusting to normality.

Chapter Two.

Written by dippindots326

It's been exactly one year since the Titan army fell, and Kronos was defeated. Percy and Annabeth are both living relatively monster-less lives in New York, and are going to a boarding school together. Percabeth, might be OOC, this is my first story ever, so don't be too harsh please.

Percy strolled through the twilit gardens. This was one of the only places in the world he actually felt safe in. He could actually stay there without getting bothered by a monster, a demi-god, or a natural disaster every few seconds.

A sigh escaped his lips. Even though everyone was so peaceful, he was uneasy. It wasn't only the attacks that had taken place. This peacefulness wasn't him. It was as if his life had become mixed with violence, it was a part of him now. Or it was just his ADHD. He chuckled.

Sometimes he wished he was just a normal person. The violence and death was just too much. He was so young and he had seen more tragedy then an old man. But if he hadn't been born a demi-god he wouldn't have met Annabeth. Suddenly normal life seemed bleak and pointless.

A low hissing noise came from a group of bushes nearby.

Maybe normal life wouldn't be so bad after all.

There was a flash of metal. Something wrapped around Percy's ankle and yanked him so hard that he flew across the gardens and hit a tree. His invincible head made a cave in the trunk. Percy, disoriented, struggled to his feet and drew riptide. Three feet of razor sharp bronze grew from his fist and he took a fighting stance. Across the garden was a young boy, maybe fourteen, with dark hair, pale skin, and Percy saw with a jolt, glowing blue eyes. In his hand was an elaborate celestial bronze sword handle, but instead of a blade, a segmented bronze whip came from it, ending in a snake head that had a wicked sharp spike coming from its mouth. The snake writhed in the air as if it was alive. It seemed familiar to Percy somehow. This had to be the boy who attacked Nico earlier.

"Son of Poseidon," the boy called from across the gardens, "I will have vengeance!"

"What?" Percy yelled back. He had no idea what the boy was talking about, but he raised his blade and prepared for an attack that felt inevitable.

"Don't play games with me!"

He was clearly enraged. Maybe he had anger issues? Before Percy could reply, the boy whipped back his hand. The snake made a hiss as it swung backward. Then he swung forward, and the snake soared through the air towards him. It blocked, jabbed, sliced, coiled, and hissed, too fast for Percy to comprehend. If he thought for a moment, the questing blade might touch him. He wasn't especially worried about being hit anywhere, except one place. The snake was surrounding him, uncoiling, and striking again. Through the glistening coils that circled him, Percy could see the boy. He was standing in one place, calmly swinging and swiping in mid air. His movements seemed to be controlling how the whip moved, though Percy didn't see how that was even remotely possible. Suddenly the boy gave the snake a very quick lash, and a wave rushed down the entire whip. Percy was flung into the air, and the snake followed after him, wrapping around him in mid-air and slamming him into the tree again. This time it snapped in half. Percy had landed on his Achilles spot. He wasn't injured, but his whole body was almost immobilized by the jolts that were crawling over him. The boy calmly walked towards Percy. The whip turned into a fancy engraved push pen in his hand. It read _Alumen_. Percy knew what it meant. Bitter. What could the boy be bitter about? It had something to do with why he was here, to attack Percy. Somehow he and the boy were connected.

For some reason the boy hated him. He would kill him without a second thought. Percy decided that he would just have to stop the boy from figuring out his weak spot, and if he could, convince him to call off his attack. Severely beating him in combat seemed like a good way to go.

'I know his weakness,' Percy thought, 'he fights from a distance, so he must be unskilled at close combat'.

Just goes to show how wrong you can be.

Percy sprinted towards the boy, hoping to take him by surprise. Undaunted, the boy sidestepped Percy's first swing, and gripped the whip tighter. The snakes segments suddenly contracted into a long thin pole ending in the snake head, almost like a rapier. Taking up an intricate battle stance, the boy parried Percy's every move perfectly. Percy brought his blade in a huge arc, almost a spin attack. The blue eyed devil jumped, landed on the sword in mid-swing, then back-flipped off. When he landed he pulled back his arm, and thrust, perfectly, straight between Percy's eyes. A shockwave of air and water that smelled, oddly enough, like the sea, burst from the contact. It couldn't hurt him, but the impact sent him flying backwards, yet again.

Percy's thoughts became muddled and confused. How had he done that? He couldn't be a child of Poseidon. The boy came closer. Percy tried to move, but he was paralyzed. As the boy got closer, Percy could see that the boys hair was actually a dark, dark, cobalt, and that his skin was almost transparent.

"Who are you?" Percy gasped, as the effort to speak sent another jolt of pain through his body.

"My name is Sea, son of Oceanus, the rightful ruler of the sea. Your father shamed mine, and sent him to Tartarus. Naturally, I have to avenge him. Now, I'm not so foolish as to think I could get another full scale war going. So I figured I would just hit him where it hurts. The people he cares about."

When he grinned he showed off his teeth. They were shiny white, like pearls. His canines looked oddly like shark teeth. He raised his rapier again.

"I know you took a dip in the Styx, Percy, but don't think that's going to stop me. I'll just keep poking until I hit the right spot. It doesn't matter how long it takes."

From the look in his eyes, Percy could tell that he meant it.

The sword speared towards Percy's chest.

_SHIIIIIING_

Three feet of cold black metal stopped the snake in its path. Sea looked up, surprise written across his face. Nico's fist slammed into Sea's forehead, so hard that Percy thought he could see blood fly. Sea clutched his bleeding head as Nico offered his hand to Percy. He hefted Percy up, and together they raised their blades towards Sea. He looked angry. He knew that he couldn't take two powerful demi-god children of the big three. His lips pulled back into a snarl.

Suddenly his cold blue eyes flashed, so bright that the whole school could probably see it from the windows. When they looked again, Sea was gone, a puddle of water where he had been standing. However they were not alone.

"Damn kids, sneaking out in the middle of the night, doing naughty things they too young for.."

Percy and Nico looked back in forth worriedly. Someone had been woken up, from the sounds of it a teacher. Nico grabbed Percy, and together they shadow-traveled through the wall back into their dorm room.

"That's the last time I'm ever going for a late night walk."


	5. Fire

Adjusting to normality.

Chapter Five.

Written by dippindots326

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

Artagan crouched on one of the roofs overlooking the school garden as he watched Sea battle Percy. It looked like Sea had this one in the bag. Then the Nico kid showed up. Artag was about to lend Sea a hand, when he chose not too. Sea had humiliated him too many times. Then again, needing help would be a humiliation for Sea. Artagan made up his mind. Sea was so proud. This would break him. He was about to leap onto Nico's head, when Sea's eyes flashed, and he was standing next to him.

"You lost." Artagan said, suppressing a grin. Sea didn't respond. His eyes were squeezed shut. A beautiful blue light was shining through his eyelids, eerily highlighting his veins. After a second, the light faded, and Sea opened his eyes. Traces of steam curled off his eyelids. Sea's eyes had always fascinated Artag. There was something tragic about them.

"I would have won if that kid hadn't interrupted."

"I was surprised by how well you did. I thought that the guy was supposed to be good."

"He's better than you, I can say that for certain."

"Hmmm..."

Sea only had a moments notice. Artagan's eyes seemed to spark, and suddenly their weapons were edge to edge, spraying sparks when one of them tried to knock the other off balance.

Artag grinned. His sword shrunk back to a pencil, which he tucked behind his ear casually. He began to stroll in the opposite direction, across the roof.

"Don't worry cousin," Artagan said a smile creeping across his face, "I won't fail." His smile revealed his teeth. They were all filed to points. A while after they had met, Sea had asked him what the point of filing his teeth was. Unfortunately, he found out.

Sea forced a smile. He couldn't stand Artagan. Good thing he was an idiot. The sooner he got rid of him, the better.

"We'll see."

Nico glared at Percy. They were sitting in their dorm, curtains drawn, and weapons ready.

Percy shifted uncomfortably in his seat, making the leather crack loudly.

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. There wasn't really anything to say.

Percy bravely spoke up, "Why are we staying here? I thought that resting while the enemy knows where you are is the worst thing to do!"

"I have protective wards up around our dorm and Annabeth's. They are like camp's, people need permission to enter. They're sturdy enough to hold off any demi-god. Let's just hope Sea doesn't have back-up."

"Then why are we still up?"

Nico closed his eyes. Percy waited, expecting a reprimand of sorts. Nico snorted. Percy raised an eyebrow. He was asleep. Percy threw Nico's blanket over his chair, before diving into his own bed. He rolled himself into a ball, tight enough to ignore his throbbing body.

Sea walked through the streets of New York. He was wearing a thin graphic hoodie, dark jeans, and appropriate sneakers. Alumen was tucked into his pocket, the clip attached to the outside of his jeans. His wavy blue hair kept falling into his eyes. Taxis buzzed by him. People from all walks of life, poor, rich, walked by him. None of them spared him a second glance. What was he anyways? A homeless kid?

Maybe to them.

A burning joy came into his mind. Remembering who he was, always gave him a happy feeling.

His life had been miserable before, when he was still normal. His step father was a drinker. Ten year old Sea had been playing on the beach. He was surprised when the fish started talking to him. They told him who he was. They filled him in on what he had missed.

The day he discovered his abilities was the day he first used them.

His step father never troubled him or his mother after that. Or anybody else for that matter. Too bad his mother had left him too. Rather have a sick bastard for a husband than a demon child, eh?

His happiness flicked out of existence.

He had lived behind the school for a while. The older kids had picked on him. They laughed at his hair, his eyes, his weird skin. They were actually afraid of him. Sea taught them not to laugh. It had reached a climax when they chased him all the way to the coast. Practically the whole grade was chasing him, in a primal state where reason could not touch them.

"Get the freak!"

"We don't want you!"

"Kill him!"

Children became monsters.

That day still haunted Sea. He had run into the water crying.

He had kept running, eyes shut tight.

Eventually he opened them. Darkness was everywhere. Night in the deep sea.

At first he didn't realize he was underwater. He couldn't see in the darkness, but he knew where everything was. Sounds and body temperature ran over him, letting him know where everything was.

That had been the most terrifying night of his life.

Accompanied with that afternoon they were probably the worst 24 hours in history. The next day he had woken up to find the sea blue of coastal waters surrounding him on all sides, sand beneath his feet, and fish swimming around him, murmuring into his ears. He counted himself the luckiest person in the world.

That changed after a while.

Sea shook himself. Dwelling on the past was useless to everyone, especially himself. He didn't want to remember anything or anyone, especially not _her_. He thought about her in unhealthy amounts anyway. Seemingly at random, Sea turned left into an alley. He walked till he reached the middle of the alley and turned left again. The brick wall stood tall and firm as ever.

He looked around.

This was the right place. Sometimes he was off by a block or two. He had marked it with a spray can. One brick, half red, half green. Sea took out Alumen and pointed it a little above the edge on the side of the roof of the building. He pushed the pen's button. In less than a second it transformed into its real form, an elaborate handled whip with a spiked snake head at its tip, made completely from celestial bronze. The faintly glowing metal arched up, beautifully, and speared the wall perfectly. Bracing himself against the wall opposite him, Sea grabbed onto the whip and began to pull himself up, essentially repelling up the building wall. When he reached the top he let Alumen dangle. He walked to the edge of the building overlooking the city streets and sat, letting his feet dangle. Something slumped into his pocket. Alumen had returned. Sea waited.

There was a loud thump as Artagan landed next to him, feet halfway over the edge of the building, his body leaning precariously away from safety.

"Find her?"

"Yup, she goes to the same school as them, across the courtyard where you got your ass kicked."

"Whatever."

Artagan slouched into the same position as Sea, and they watched the pedestrians in the streets below together.

"Do you really think we can do it?" Sea said quietly to Artagan after a while.

"Yes, but before we're done only one of us will be left alive."

"Why do you think that?"

"Sea, we are the children of titans. We'll want everything for ourselves."

Sea appeared to think about it for a second. Suddenly he whipped out Alumen and was swinging towards Artagans neck. In less than a millisecond, a thin blade met his.

_SHIIING_

Artagan was laughing. He may have been an idiot, but he was no slouch when it came to combat.

"See what I mean cousin?"


	6. A Plan

Adjusting to normality.

Chapter Six.

Written by dippindots326

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

The boy ran through the dark alleys of New York. Dust flew up with each of his steps, and the pavement itself groaned and chipped beneath his long hard strides.

Each step he took he winced out in pain. A deep gash was cut in his leg, bleeding with each step as if it was a lemon being squeezed.

The bleeding was slowing down, but it was probably infected from all the times he had fallen. He was covered in scorch marks. A deep laughter echoed behind him, and he dared not look back.

There was a whizzing noise.

That horrible sword zipped by his head, the hilt knocking him on the shoulder as it passed by, and lodged itself in the ground. The thin blade shivered from tip to handle, as if the contact itself and the pain it brought were extremely satisfying.

His pursuer cursed. Footsteps started ringing behind him again.

"Where do you think your going, John?" Artagan roared, as he began running after him again.

John kept running.

"I told you not to desert! This is your own fault!" Artagan called after him.

John, grabbed the sword by the hilt, and kept running.

"Bad idea, John!" Artagan called out to him.

The sword zipped backward, out of John's hand, slicing his palm down the middle as it did so. There was a faint pat sound, as Artagan caught it.

_Ignore the pain_, John thought. The trap was just ahead.

Suddenly John and his pursuer burst into full view, out of the alley, across the street, and vaulting over any trees in their path.

Horns honked, people cursed.

They kept running.

As they entered another alley, John seemed to trip over himself, and fell forward onto his chest. Artagan laughed behind him.

Suddenly Artagan fell forward. As he ran he collided with the wire John had set up, faintly reflecting the city's lights.

Ten celestial bronze daggers fell towards Artagan. They moved fast enough to catch a hawk in mid-flight.

Just a little too slow.

Artagan disappeared into a golden flash, half a second later, the daggers embedded themselves into the ground.

John cursed and began to run again. He had to get somewhere safe.

As John turned around Artagan kicked him in the chest. John flew backwards, and landed on the ground. As he stood up, he pulled a silver protractor out of his back-pocket. It grew into a huge longbow, with glimmering bronze blades at the tips. A quiver grew out of nowhere on his back, with ten massive arrows in it.

Artagan laughed. His blade gleamed as he raised it.

John notched an arrow, and took aim.

Annabeth woke up yawning. She checked the clock. Only seven o'clock. Back to sleep then. As she looked away she noticed the picture of Percy and her in the courtyard.

Nico had taken the picture.

Percy was blushing, but his smile stretched across his feet.

She didn't know what had come over her yesterday when she kissed him. It had been such a great kiss though! She giggled, despite herself.

She took a quick glance to make sure her roommate hadn't heard.

Her roommate Nicole was still asleep. She sighed and started to lay down when a buzz of voices gradually became aware to her sleepy ears. It sounded like a lot of people were outside. There was never that many people in the courtyard. She peeked through the blinds. There were crowds of students gathered around one of the trees that appeared to be at an odd angle, and at various spots on the walls.

It looked like she would be getting up early today.

She went to the bathroom and took a quick shower. Then she brushed her teeth, and pulled on a tank-top and shorts. It hugged her figure very complimentarily.

She gulped down a glass of water, and jogged out of her room and down the stairs.

As she entered the courtyard, the voices became louder and clearer.

"..Jesus Christ…"

"…Look at this one…"

"…Want to play Gaga…"

Annabeth joined the crowd surrounding the tree, getting quite a few lusty glances from the boys standing around it.

It looked like someone had cut a cave into the tree, and then pushed it over.

She spotted a thin black hair lying next to the tree. It looked like one of Percy's hairs.

Somehow she knew this wasn't a coincidence.

She looked to the wall. There were deep cuts in it as if something sharp had stabbed and slashed at the wall all night.

There were a few person shaped indents too.

Had Percy gotten into another fight?

Was he okay?

Of course he was. Nothing could happen to him. He was invincible anyways. There was no way.

She sprinted off towards the boys dorm, receiving quite a few eyebrow raises on the way.

Percy woke up, aching all over from his battle the previous night. Nico was still asleep of course, he had to shadow travel twice last night, which was a huge drain on energy. He yawned loudly, and checked his clock. Seven thirty. Suddenly a sharp knock his door caught his attention. He sat up, pulled on a shirt, and walked to the door. Before he could reach it, the door knob jiggled and clicked. Percy stepped back alarmed. The door swung open, and standing in it was Annabeth.

"A-Annabeth! What are you doing here so early?"

"Have you looked outside?" she asked. Percy sensed something was wrong. He walked to the window and opened the blinds, extracting a moan from Nico.

"Oh, right.."

"What happened?! Were you attacked again? Why were you outside anyway?!"

Percy stared at her, surprised by the outburst. Annabeth blushed and looked away.

"I took a stroll. We don't live at camp anymore, so the next best thing to stare at is the fountain, right? But this kid, Sea, attacked me. He's the son of Oceanus."

"Oceanus was defeated by Poseidon wasn't he?" Annabeth asked, looking unnerved.

"Yeah, but I guess Sea got away or something. Anyways, Nico said Sea attacked him too."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"Something is going on Percy. It's too much of a coincidence for us to be attacked by the same two in the same day, not to mention that they were demi-titans."

"Nah, you think?" Percy asked sarcastically, earning a kick in the shins from Annabeth.

"Anyway," Percy said stretching, "what do we do about it?"

Annabeth thought about it a moment.

"We tell Chiron and," she frowned, staring at her feet.

"And we what?"

"Stay put. We shouldn't take action till we know what's going on. Maybe we can reason with them."

"I don't know about this," Nico piped in, "that seems just a little too risky."

"You're the smart one Annabeth. I trust your judgement." Percy said under his breath.

Annabeth seemed to calm down a little.

"Are you okay, Percy?" she asked in a much more controlled voice. Percy thought he could see tears in her eyes.

Percy strode towards her and held her in his arms. She felt so frail in his arms. Nico looked away awkwardly.

"I'm fine Annabeth. You're fine. Everything's going to be fine."

She sniffed and nodded. "I-I just thought we might be able to have some peace instead of being attacked every few minutes."

"Hey now, we made it through a whole year right? That's a record breaker for me."

She smiled, and wiped her tears on her hand. They dripped off her fingers onto the floor. "Yeah, me too."

Artagan popped another Dr. Pepper. That bastard John had gotten away. Combined with his pre-set traps and his skill with his bow, John had managed to subdue Artagan long enough to escape into the city throng. Artagan scowled. He was a slippery little punk, but his time would come. He would pay for how he humiliated him.

Anyways, there was a bigger obstacle than John right now. Sea. Despite the incident earlier that night they were still allied, at least until the plan was carried out. He didn't trust Sea at all, and he knew the feeling was mutual. It didn't matter though. Sea would be vulnerable when their plan was complete, and then he'd take him out.

Tomorrow he'd get John. Then Sea would capture Percy. Then he would get Nico. That would be enough for the ritual. Then he would become unstoppable and smite them all.

Artagan smiled.

"John. I have another job for you." Sea waited for a response. The empty warehouse echoed with the dripping of water. Sea was barely fifteen, but he had the senses of a wild animal in its prime. He could smell John. The water didn't help conceal the scent at all.

Sea walked into the center of the warehouse. A lonely ray of light shone down on his face. "It's only me John. Artagan isn't here."

The twanging of a bow broke the darkness. Sea reacted instantly, but still too slow. The arrow entered his head and passed through. Sea fell to the ground in mid-crouch, an arrow protruding from his forehead. Instead of blood, sea water poured out of his skull. The salty water bubbled and frothed as it formed a puddle around Sea's body.

John approached. He was a son of Apollo, but had never found his way to camp. Somehow he had braved the world alone, and by the time he found out about Camp Half Blood, he didn't need it.

However he made his way to camp anyway, and stayed a night. The next day, they had found his bed sheets folded neatly, a magic bow missing, and a note, apologizing for the theft.

As John approached Sea's corpse, bow at the ready, it collapsed into sea water, as if the clothes on top of it were too much of a weight. "Oh fuck." John said under his breath.

As quickly as it had disappeared, the sea water reappeared, and billowed like smoke, filling up Sea's clothes. The dark hoodie and jeans filled up as if Sea was still standing in them.

And suddenly he was. The water turned solid again, and Sea was standing before John, looking slightly irritated. "I guess I don't blame you," Sea tittered, "it did seem like I was exaggerating when I told you I couldn't die, didn't it?"

John tried to talk, but his mouth just opened and closed, like a fish.

He only had a moments warning, a faint hissing noise, and suddenly his demonic whip thing was wrapped around his neck, lifting and pulling him down until he was eye to eye with Sea, who was a few years younger than him. The coils of the snake wound themselves tighter, and tighter, so tight John thought that his head would literally burst from the pressure. In the blink of the eye, the coils unwound, and John hit the floor, gasping for breath, his vision flickering, and his limbs ice cold. Gradually his breathing became normal again. But his fear of Sea was greater than ever.

Sea waited calmly as John got his bearings. "I need you to capture someone. Nico Di Angelo. Son of Hades. I have an address, and a picture. I'm sure you can handle it from there, right?"

"A-As you wish l-lord." John chattered through his teeth. Sea smiled coldly, his teeth gleaming. "Lord. I rather like that title." And with that he vanished. A manila envelope was on the ground before him.

Later that night, Sea found Artagan on the roof again, watching the streets far, far below.

"Sea," called Artagan, "do you think a penny would chop their heads open if I dropped one from here?"

_Idiot_, thought Sea. "I don't know or care, for that matter. I have something important to discuss with you."

Artagan raised an eyebrow. They had already gone over the plan dozens of times, so it couldn't be about that. But then what?

"I have hired John to get Nico. He will bring him to us by tomorrow. I can't have you looking for him." Artagan's eyes starting shooting sparks. "You knew I wanted revenge on him! You dare try to humiliate me? I'll kill you!" His eyes became writhing infernos. The fool was so easy to play.

"Calm down, Artagan. Pay attention. He's coming _to_ you. Once he delivers Nico, he's out of my protection, and you can chop him into as many pieces as you'd like."

Artagan's eyes flared. He was pacified only seconds after he'd been angered.

"I like this plan." Artagan said, his eyes shrinking to a warm glow.

Of course he did. Sea took his seat next to Artagan and they resumed watching the people. Somewhere out there John was getting down to business, unaware that his fate had been sealed.

At that very moment, John was watching Nico leave his school. Nico was taking a short walk, to calm down. It was broad daylight, but his nerves were frayed, and he had a feeling Percy and Annabeth wanted some alone time anyway.

Usually his walks were just a small lap around the block the school was on, but he decided to take a shortcut through an alley. He was feeling uneasy, though he had no idea why. As he entered the alley it never once crossed his mind that he might have been followed.


	7. The Sea

Adjusting to normality.

Chapter Seven.

Written by dippindots326

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

Nico strolled down the alley, his footsteps splashing the puddles beneath him. A light shower drizzled through the clouds. He watched the ground as he walked. A small rat skittered by, in front of him. Suddenly, a shadow passed under the sun. Nico spun, sword out, ready to fight. Nobody was there.

Nico sighed and turned around. His walk wasn't calming him down at all. If anything he felt more tense than ever.

"Nico."

He spun again, and this time someone was there. "Hi?" Nico said slowly, watching carefully for any signs of danger. The boy was tall, older than him, and had a large bow slung on his back. Another demi-titan?

"My name is John. It's nice to meet you." Nico decided not to exchange pleasantries with this guy. "What do you want?"

"Straight to business then? I want what you want. You've been plagued by strangers attacking you in the last few days, correct? I have as well. I think together we can stop our attackers, at least for a while."

"Why should I trust you?" Nico asked, raising an eyebrow. John reached into his backpack. Nico tensed, the hand pulled out… a manila envelope. Sea opened it and glanced down. It was full of pictures of him, and one plain white paper had his address and room number on it. Nico looked up, signaling for John to continue.

"They think that I am working for them. However I am in as much danger as you are, as one of them seems to have a vendetta against me. No doubt he plans on killing me after I capture you."

"I need to run this by my friends. I'm not going anywhere with you alone."

"I don't blame you. I'll be in your school courtyard. Ciao." John turned around and walked out of the alley, turned left, and was out of sight.

Nico looked down at the envelope. It unnerved him. He stuffed it in a pocket and ran back to the school.

Meanwhile, Annabeth was talking to Chiron as Percy lounged in the courtyard.

"You said his name was Sea?" Chiron was asking Annabeth.

"Yes, Percy said that he revealed himself while they were fighting. The other one we don't know."

Chiron's brow wrinkled in the iris message, sending faint ripples across the image. "Yes, I remember a story in the newspaper, years ago. A young boy had caused some sort of panic in a small town. His name was Sea as I recall. A very odd name. That's probably why I remembered it. We had a satyr stationed there for months afterward looking for the boy, but as I recall, we never found him. This could very well be the same lad." Chiron looked like he was deep in thought.

"Well what do we do?" Annabeth said, fearing for a second that Chiron was as lost as them.

"Stay safe, for now. I'll assemble a few people to head over incase Sea attacks again, with more people. If your apartment is safeguarded like you said it is you'll be fine. Make sure you don't leave though. They could be waiting for just such an opportunity."

Annabeth thanked him and raised her hand to wipe away the iris message.

"Oh Annabeth, if you fight Sea, don't kill him. He's younger than you and no doubt misguided. I think we could bring him back to camp, and perhaps educate him properly. He's no doubt been in constant danger his whole life."

"Yes Chiron. I'll do my best."

Chiron gave her a warm smile, and the iris message collapsed into mist.

Percy sat on the fountain in the courtyard, watching koi fish glide dreamily under the rippling waters. It was terrifying to be in mortal danger again, yet also refreshing. It had been so long since he had done anything exciting.

Getting up, Percy began to head back to his dormitory room, where Annabeth was. He hoped she hadn't gone looking around in his drawers.

As he opened the door, he saw the iris message with Chirons face on it collapse into mist.

"I'm back," Percy said, "do we have a plan?" Annabeth turned around, and he saw something that completely unnerved him in her eyes. Fear.

"No plan. We just sit and wait. Chiron's sending someone over, probably an Ares."

"Oh. Well that sucks." Not knowing what to do, Percy sat next to her. She fell into his arms and gave him a warm hug. He patted her on the back awkwardly.

Just then, Nico walked in. He looked a little shaken, and was holding a manila envelope. After Percy and Annabeth awkwardly untangled themselves, Nico cleared his throat.

"So, I got good news."

Sea was sinking through the waves, the water rushing past his ears. He was shapeless, formless, _mind-less_. But he was alive. His body spread out for miles and miles. Suddenly with a jolt, his eyes opened. His limbs rushed too him, and he was himself again. He was a the bottom of the abyss, surrounded by thermal vents spouting black gas into the water. On a throne of coral, a pair of blue eyes appraised him. A hissing snake wound its way around a blue hand.

The eyes spoke.

"Welcome, my son."

Sea woke up with a jolt, and was about to stand up, when he realized he was inches away from the edge of the roof he had slept on. People walked the sidewalks and cars honked. Fighting back vertigo, he rolled over and stared at the stars. He had been dreaming again. Checking his watch he found that it was barely past midnight. He shut his eyes again. The imprints of the city lights on his eyes tumbled in his vision as he drifted back into sleep.

He was walking through his home town.

He was seven.

His feet splashed on wet walkways, and made empty ringing noises on dry ones. As he walked by the mothers glanced fearfully at him, and ushered their children indoors. He stopped in front of one house, and knocked on the door. As he waited he looked down at the welcome matt. Someone had drawn a crude smiley face in the "o".

A tall, kind looking woman appeared at the door. "Hello Sea," she said smiling. "She'll be out in a moment. Why don't you come in and wait?" "Okay, ma'am." Sea said grinning gap-toothed up at her. He sat down in the small kitchen, his feet dangling above the floor, and the woman served him a cookie and a glass of milk. Sea heard muttering coming from the living room, and the woman looked irritated.

"I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" Sea asked politely. The lady seemed to suddenly remember he was there. "Oh, no, no, no. You know how people are about you. They don't appreciate a special boy. You just ignore them, remember people who have the prove themselves the most are the ones who succeed."

Sea nodded, smiling again. His peculiar blue hair and eyes always unnerved adults, but Mrs. O'Hear never seemed to mind. Ruffling his hair, Mrs. O'Hear moved to the living room, where he could hear her resuming her conversation with her friends. Sea heard snatches of conversation coming from the other room, about him of course. Whenever he was around they always talked about him.

A nasal voice whispered.

"Luann, what is that _freak_ doing here again?"

"Don't call him that, you know he's a good boy, it's just that nobody understands him."

A deeper, perhaps black, voice reached Sea's ears.

"You know that's not what she meant. He got blue eyes an' hair, now that 'aint normal. His attitude is a whole 'nother problem."

"He doesn't have an attitude, he's just intelligent. He's never done anything bad, not even when the other kids pick on him."

"You're forgetting about that one incident."

"If I were you, I wouldn't feel safe letting my baby near him."

"He said that was an accident. I believe him too, I've never been given any reason to doubt him. Even if he is a-"

At that moment there was a thumping upstairs. Sea looked up and grinned in anticipation. Suddenly they stopped, and a round pink face framed by brown locks peeked shyly around the stairwell. Seeing that it was him, she grinned widely and ran into the kitchen.

There was a sharp pain in Sea's stomach. He sat up straight and checked his watch, not even bothering to say good morning to Artagan, who had been poking him with a rebar that he had found. It was three o' clock in the morning. Groaning miserably, Sea turned to Artagan. "What do you want?" Artagan grinned, clearly enjoying annoying him. The little bastard. "I forgot to ask you, when will John be coming?

"The day after tomorrow, he meets us here. Are you already tired of waiting?"

"Nah, I just wanted to know. You can go back to sleep now." He grinned again.

"I think I'll stay up for a bit." Sea said, popping open a Dr. Pepper.

"You were talking in your sleep. Having nightmares again?"

"Almost."

"Eh, what's the matter? Are you okay?"

"Sometimes."

Artagan stared at him for a moment, half scared, half angry. He decided to try to blow it off.

"Eh, whatever. You better be feeling good by the day after tomorrow, or we could be in trouble." And with that Artagan walked to the opposite side of the roof and reached into his pile of pennies.

Sea took a drag from his Dr. Pepper. The damn dreams had gotten him thinking about her again. His chest hurt, a dull ache. Lovesick? Ridiculous. There was no such thing. Taking another sip, he stared out across the horizon, wondering which building she was in.


	8. Monica

Adjusting to normality.

Chapter Eight.

Written by dippindots326

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

Annabeth woke up that morning in a rather good mood. She rubbed her drowsy eyes and looked around. With a jolt she saw Percy on the floor next to her bed. Then she remembered that she had been in his room going over the plan with them and John, the son of Apollo. She must have fallen asleep, and Percy put her in bed. Thankfully, she was still in the clothes she had worn yesterday. She smiled at his snoring form on the floor. He must have been cold. She got up and rinsed her mouth in their bathroom, deciding that she would have to head over to her dorm room to brush her teeth. As she walked out of the dorm and shut the door behind her, a few heads popped out of the doorways, grinning at her. Apparently her overnight stay hadn't gone unnoticed. A few whistles followed her, and one boy called out mockingly, "Time for a trip to the gynecologist, Annie Bell?"

"I think you've made some serious misconceptions, my friend." She called over her shoulder, swaying her hips back and forth as she walked away to taunt them. Once she was clear of the men's dormitories, she began to run. She couldn't risk being out of a safety zone for too long, especially since her knife was in her dormitory. As she opened the door, she looked through her drawer to get some new clothes, and had half pulled off her tank top when she noticed someone was watching her. Quick as a flash, her right hand pulled her knife off its sheath on top of the drawer, while her left hand yanked her top back down. To her great surprise, Josh had been watching her.

"Hey baby."

"I made something for you," Sea said shyly as he reached into his pocket, glancing hopefully at Monica as he did so. It was simple, a smooth brown cord looped through a shell the size of a marble. The shell itself had naturally varying colors, almost like it had been dipped in a rainbow. Monica smiled brightly as she took it an examined it.

"I love it, Sea." She said, and to both of their great surprise, she kissed him on the cheek. It was a short peck, but they both blushed brightly.

"It's from the sea." Sea said sheepishly, and she grinned.

There was a sharp rap on the door. Monica's mother came from the living room to answer it, and she pulled it open, the rusty joints creaking loudly. Framed in the door way was Sea's step-father Geoffrey. He was a big man, in terms of height and girth. He had a plastic smile on his face, and his grubby, dirty hands were crossed above his crotch.

"Good evening ma'am, Monica. Sea needs to come home now. He has some …work to do."

"Oh, but he just got here. Does he really need to go so soon? Monica doesn't have anyone else to play with."

For a second, Geoffrey's face tightened, showing disdain for the woman, but they melted (almost literally) back into his chubby face. "No, no, I'm sorry but he has homework, and I don't have any time later. Perhaps another time he can stay longer. Come, boy."

With that the turned around and stepped back onto the cobbled walkway to his car, not bothering to check if Sea was following.

"Bye honey. Come back any time you like."

"Bye-bye, Sea." Monica said waving. Sea said goodbye and headed back towards his step-fathers black car, that went with his black heart quite well. He opened the door wide, purposely scratching the curb, and slammed it hard. The drive home was mercifully silent. However when they were both inside, things got ugly.

"You stupid little freak, I've been over this with you. You're growing up and you need some real friends if you want to amount to anything. It don't mean shit if you got brains if you don't got balls. Why don't you grow up, and get some real friends. You know how embarrassing it is to tell my buddies that I have to go pick up my son-in-law from his little girl-friends house? Stay away from that broad, you here me?"

"She's my only friend. I don't need others when I have her." Sea said firmly.

Geoffrey struck him across the face, his nails making small cuts in his cheek. He struck him again with the same hand, and Sea went sprawling.

"To be honest, I was hoping you'd say that. It gives me a chance to relieve some stress."

Geoffrey knew about Sea's quick healing, ever since he'd accidently punctured his skin with a pencil, and saw that Sea was perfectly alright the next day.

By the time Sea's mother got home, Sea was on the beach, lamenting his state of affairs. Why did his mother have to marry Geoffrey. Why couldn't she have married his dad?

"Why?" Sea asked the waters before him. "Why didn't she?"

_She couldn't have…_

_If only you knew…_

_Be glad she didn't…_

Voices spoke to him, like whispers, but their source he could not pinpoint.

"Who are you?"

_Look down…_

A star-fish was curling around a stone in a tide-pool. "I see nothing." Said Sea.

_You see me…_

Sea was starting to get angry when the star-fish lifted an arm, and… tried… to wave, its thick extremity bent awkwardly in the motion.

The next hour Sea spent speaking to the star-fish and other ocean life that came to join the conversation. They told him everything. Some things they probably shouldn't have, and wouldn't have if they knew what he was going to do.

Sea walked into his house, his footsteps creaking loudly, alerting the whole family that he had returned. At this moment the whole family meant Geoffrey and a few buddies, watching television, swigging beer. They hiccupped and laughed loudly, their minds clouded by the fog of alcohol.

"Hello father." Sea said calmly.

"What do you want…" he managed to slur out in return.

His idiot friends chuckled and hiccupped.

"I'm giving you a chance to apologize, for everything you've done, and a chance to leave and never come back."

"Apologize? For what? For teaching you how to be a man? For helping you get away from that stupid little whore you like?" He burped loudly and laughed with his buddies.

"Get out of the way kid, you're blocking the damn television."

Sea smashed his fist into the screen, shattering it, the glass cutting his hand. He didn't take notice.

"What the hell are you doing? That was my damn T.V. boy! Give me a hand, boys!" The three of them rose together, cracking their knuckles simultaneously. "That wasn't exactly what I meant when I told you to grow up."

Sea walked into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water, and waited. After a minute, the three of them tripped their way drunkenly into the room and advanced.

"Your mother might get a little mad, but she'll understand, and if she don't then I'll screw her up too."

Geoffrey and his buddy raised their fists and charged. Sea's eyes flashed blue. It was the last thing they ever saw. A few hours later, Sea was still there, staring at the blood pooling around the disfigured corpses. He was rooted on the spot, caught between terror and exhilaration. He poured himself another glass of water and gulped it down. Then he had another.

There was a low gasp to Sea's right. He turned, and too his horror his mother was there, skin chalk white, knuckles shaking, eyes wide with disbelief and terror. She turned and ran out of the room. After a few seconds he started after her, trying to think of something to say, knowing that it wouldn't matter. By the time he pushed open the door, she had backed out of the driveway, and was on her way. That was the last time he saw her alive. After a week long search they had found her body in the near-by woods, mauled by some unseen predator.

At the time however, Sea didn't know where to go. He was afraid to confront Monica about what he had done. Maybe she would stop loving him. Maybe she would even hate him. He walked to his school, and sat on the swings in the playground, staring at the pebbles on the ground. He eventually nodded off to sleep. His dreams were plagued by star-fish and blood.

When he woke up he was surrounded by students. Apparently they had found him there on their way to class and wanted to see if he was dead or not. Sea shrugged them off, went to class, dismissed the rumors about him staying in the playground and killing his step-father as false to anyone who asked, and when everyone had left, he crawled into a classroom, and slept. So began his new life.

Suddenly Monica was there, kneeling over him, concerned. His vision grew brighter and more blurry and suddenly he was awake. His dreams were always like this. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He looked around. Artagan was nowhere to be seen, thankfully. He looked around again, not knowing why. He was still alone. He had always been alone. He would always be alone, unless he did something about it now. He realized something there, something more important than anything else. More important then what was going to happen the next day. He needed to see Monica. Looking down at the streets, he saw an old man, walking down the street, alone. He looked cold. Sea felt a tear drip down his face.

He didn't want to be cold.

The old man felt something drip on his forehead, and he looked up surprised, his eyes squinting, but all he saw was the sun.

"Uh, um, hi? What are you doing in my dorm room?" Annabeth asked slowly.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me sometime, we can go to a club, eat dinner, see a movie, whatever you like."

"No, I'm with Percy, and I-"

"Love him?" John interrupted. Annabeth hesitated, and John, noticing this, smiled.

"C'mon, what are you doing with him when you could be with me?"

"First of all, I _do_ love Percy, and secondly, this is really not the time to be asking _anyone_ out."

"Then when would be a better time? I'll wait."

"Don't bother. You'll never have me."

The smile left John's face. "We'll see." He walked out, shoulders hanging, and Annabeth almost felt sorry for him.

(A/N): Well I didn't know how to end this one, so I just did. Next chapter will probably focus more on Sea and Monica, and Percy and Annabeth.


	9. Reunion

Adjusting to normality.

Chapter Nine.

Written by dippindots326

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

Enter, the wall of text.

He still knew where she lived, after all this time. He didn't have to check once. He made his way there stumbling, like a blind man holding onto a rail. The people in the streets yelled at him for bumping into them. Sea didn't hear. He raised a hand to knock on her door, but instead fell on it. He hadn't seen her since that day. The day she saw what he really was. He didn't know how she felt about it. He hadn't had a chance to speak to her. All he knew was that she was an art student, and she lived by herself at this apartment.

He pulled his thin hood over his head, to cover his cobalt hair. He raised his hand, and knocked lightly on the door.

Monica O'Hear turned off the water, and pushed the shower door open. She dried off quickly with a shaggy white towel. She wrapped the towel around her, letting it hug her figure, and crossed her apartment to her phone. She had heard it go off while she was in the shower. There was one message, from her mom, wondering if she still enjoyed studying in New York and if she would come and visit soon. She was seventeen, going to an exclusive art school, and she was more or less unhappy. The person that had meant the most to her was missing, his case long abandoned by the police, and more than likely dead.

Well, in a way, he was always with her. A small rainbow shell hung around her neck.

She had all but forgotten Sea's appearance. She only had one picture of him, drawn by her-self, in crayon. She remembered hardly anything. Did he really have blue eyes and hair? Was he cute or was he handsome? She was twelve when she had last seen him. And last but certainly not least, what the hell was he? She went into the bathroom again, wiped the steam off the mirror, and threw off the towel. She had a slim, attractive figure, brown eyes, a perfect nose, and long brown locks that curled at the end, as if they were plants reaching for sunlight. Her face was heart shaped and kind. And there, nestled between her full breasts, was a small rainbow colored shell, held to her neck by a worn looking brown cord. She was still fingering the shell as a faint knocking sound came from her door. It was as if someone had patted the door with their palm. She crossed over to the door, and looked through the peek-hole. A thin figure in a think dark blue hoodie and black jeans was standing there. Though his face was partially obscured by shadows from his hood, she could see his lips, and pale skin. One single hair slipped from its perch in his hood and settled on his nose. Monica froze. It was dark blue. How could this be happening? Was it really him?

The figure pushed its hair back up, and turned to walk away. Monica threw the door open.

"Wait!"

He turned slowly, as if not believing he had actually heard someone say something. Then he turned quickly around again. Monica was confused for a second, until she realized her towel had fallen off. Blushing furiously, she wrapped it around herself again. She looked up when she was done. He was still there, looking away. His hood had slipped down. His disheveled almost-black-blue hair looked angelic from behind. It had to be him.

"Sea?" she asked, not daring to believe it was him, incase he was just some random person with a petition, or someone from school asking for advice on a project, or…

"Monica," He turned around, and was almost knocked over by the force of her hug. She was shorter than him now. With a start he realized she was silently sobbing, her body shaking in his arms. She was rousingly close, and she was wearing practically nothing…

He struggled to control himself, but he started to feel tears drip down his own face. Salty tears, and for the first time in his life, his tears stung.

A few minutes later he sat inside, sipping a glass of iced water, as he waited for her to finish changing her apartment had a shiny wooden floor, an excellent view, and modern furniture, all white, glass, and metal. All in all, it was a very beautiful place to live. His eyes explored the room, looking for any kind of sign. There. Above the fireplace. There was a small picture he remembered her showing him. A young girl, Monica, holding hands with a boy, a little shorter than her, with striking blue hair and eyes. Even then she was beautiful. Monica came back into the room, wearing a white shirt intentionally splattered with paint, and a pair of white jeans. Her perfect face was draped by her still wet brown locks. She sat down next to him, saying nothing. Neither of them knew where to start, only that they desperately missed each other.

Finally, Sea broke the silence.

"I've done bad things, Monica. I would understand if you, err, don't want to be around me."

She looked at him, and slapped him across the face. It didn't hurt, she hit like a girl.

"That's for not contacting me all these years." She said pointedly.

"I guess I deserved that."

"I missed you." Her eyes searched his, hoping that he had missed her as well. He stared coolly back.

"I missed you too. I even dream about you," he looked into her eyes apologetically, "sorry if that sounds creepy."

She smiled. Still Sea. "I still have the shell." She said quietly.

She reached under her shirt and pulled it out. She placed it lightly in his upturned palm.

Sea held it in is hand. It was still warm from being against her breast. It's iridescent colors twinkled in the bright daylight. He returned it to her.

"How's your mom doing?" he asked, trying to be casual.

"She's fine. She only wishes I had become an intern at the office so I could see her more often. She still likes you, by the way. We all thought you were dead though. Dad got a big promotion at work, which is how I can afford to live in this place." She raised her arms and spread them out to the apartment, as if scattering rose petals across the room. The action pushed her chest out. Sea tried not to look. It was as if every-time she did something, she was more and more beautiful. Monica glanced at him, and caught him staring. He looked away quickly, cheeks burning, trying to seem interested in the plaster ceiling, which looked like it had been pelted by white paintballs.

"Am I really that different?" Monica asked, somewhat sadly, looking down at herself.

Sea looked her in the eye, getting very close. "Just more beautiful." He said simply.

"Sea…" Monica said slowly.

"Sorry. My bad. I'll leave now." Sea stood up and headed for the door.

"No!" Sea turned around, surprised. "Um, please don't. I didn't mean that I didn't like it when you said that." She said, blushing.

Sea, grinning, sat down next to her again.

John was going over what he knew about the Demi-Titans with Annabeth, Percy and Nico.

"They are more resilient to physical damage then we are, specifically Sea. However, a headshot should take them out. I think there are more people in their group, but I have confirmed only Sea and Artagan."

"What do you think their plan is John?" Percy asked, oblivious to Annabeth and John's encounter earlier that day.

"Not sure exactly, but I think it's a ritual of sorts that will restore their parents to power, which might reignite the power of the monsters as well."

"Well we should probably stop that."

"Yeah."

"Hey, is there something wrong with Sea? Besides the obvious? He seems… different."

"While I was 'working' for him, Sea and I actually got along quite well for a while. Something to do with a girl. He had a troubled past."

"So he's a romantic?" Nico said grinning.

"More or less."

"Don't underestimate him. You may think you beat him earlier, but he was just testing you. Artagan, on the other hand, is just like Sea's dumbass bloodhound. Be warned though, he's no slouch."

"We know all this. Didn't you say you had a plan?"

"Well, all I really know is that they think I am taking Nico, and that you all will try to come save him. Basically, we spring the trap. Luckily for us, they plan on killing each other after the deed is done, so we might stand a chance due to their disorganization."

There was a pause.

"We're screwed aren't we?"

Artagan watched deviously as Sea entered a classy apartment building. He had him now.

The shadows had moved from one end of the room to the middle. In a few hours it would begin. Yet he had no wish to leave his seat on the couch besides Monica. They had been talking about New York, and how it compared to their hometown for quite a while, when she suddenly stopped.

"Sea, what exactly did you do that night?"

Sea searched her eyes, looking for a hint. Did she want the truth? Or a white lie? What did she want? A memory of a boy clutching his bleeding chest flashed through his minds eye. He was close to panicking.

"I.. I was out of control, and the kids were picking on me.. I didn't mean to kill anyone."

She took his hand and squeezed it. Sea looked up quickly, and stared into her eyes.

"He didn't die Sea. He's fine. He goes to M.I.T. now. He doesn't even remember you."

Sea slid down the couch till his chin rested on his chest.

"Sea… what are you?" Sea looked at his feet. His neck hurt. "You wouldn't believe me."

"Yes I would…" she said, with her pleading voice, "Please tell me?"

"No."

She lay her head down on his chest, so that he couldn't avoid looking at her. Sea blushed tremendously, and she had a feeling she was blushing too. "I need to know. It's been torturing me all these years, along with where you were, and if you were okay." She gave him a sad look. "I want to be happy again." Sea sat up abruptly and she fell off his chest onto the floor. "Ow." She said simply.

"Oh god, are you okay? Did you hit your head hard? I'm so sorry. Are you-" He picked her up, bridal style, and lay her across the couch, babbling the whole time.

"I'm fine, Sea, thanks." He sat down by the couch his head next to hers, his eyes on her.

Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be slowly leaning towards him. Her full lips were half puckered. He slowly leaned in too. Their lips met, and then pulled apart, making a shockwave of ecstasy go through both of their minds. In seconds they were passionately kissing again, both lost in a world where their troubles were, for the moment, forgotten.

"I love you."


	10. It Begins

Adjusting to normality.

Chapter Nine.

Written by dippindots326

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

Monica woke up a few hours later feeling extremely happy. She remembered Sea coming, they talked they kissed, they kissed a lot, then he passed out in her arms. His head nestled between her breasts, he looked like an innocent child, and the furrow between his eyebrows, the constant grimace on his face, disappeared.

She yawned and looked down at Sea. Then she frowned. He wasn't there. She scanned her apartment. He was nowhere to be seen. He had left again. But she had a feeling that this time he would come back.

A low whistle came from across the room. Startled, Monica looked up, and beheld a curious person.

He had a tan face, darkish brown hair, and ordinary clothes. He was twirling a pencil in his fingers expertly. A sure sign he didn't have much of a life, in her experience. She knew at once that this person was cruel, vain, and stupid. She could read people like that.

"Who are you?" Monica asked, eyes darting around the room looking for a possible weapon.

He didn't answer. He just grinned, showing his very pointy teeth.

Monica picked up the glass Sea had drunk from and threw it at him, just as he lunged. It shattered across his face with a beautiful smash. He screamed a piece of glass or two stuck in his face. Monica grabbed for her stool, but suddenly he was standing in front of her. With one strike, she was knocked across the room and out cold.

John turned down a dark alley, with a large bulky bag slung over his shoulder. Nico was pretty lightweight, so he carried him easily. Nico himself had been put to sleep, so he wouldn't move too much and give them away. They would wake him once the fight started.

However, John had an agenda of his own. He didn't really care what happened to Percy and Nico or Annabeth, although he would like to fuck her before he moved on. He just needed to get rid of Artagan, so he would be free to go wherever he wanted again, without being stalked by the fucking creeper. The sky was the gray of a drizzly day, and he shifted Nico uncomfortably on his back. Once the fight started, he would have to take out Artagan first. Sea was probably the biggest threat, though Davis could prove to be a problem. He'd only met Davis once, and that was enough, thank you very much. He thought the same about Sea and Artagan, but Artagan had a habit of following him, and Sea had a habit of following Artagan. He didn't know if Percy would be any help in a fight, but if he got an opportunity, he would take him out too. John was really just a bastard at heart.

Davis was thin and short, maybe 5' 4'' at the most. His hair was an unnerving white, and his eyes were empty as clouds. He was the son of Kronos, and as a direct result of this, had lived unnaturally long in a very young state. His weapon was a scythe, like his fathers, but he was more skilled than Kronos with it. He didn't have unlimited power to draw upon, so he had decided to focus his training on something he could rely on. He rarely spoke, and when he did it was usually something unimportant or trivial. Out of the three demi-titans, he was without a doubt the creepiest. He was, for all intents and purposes, an empty puppet for Artagan to play with.

He sat in the large abandoned warehouse that was their designated meeting spot in his English school boy outfit just as Artagan came in, with Monica unconscious over his shoulder. Instead of greeting him, he cocked his head to the side slowly, his mouth opening a little. Artagan already knew what he wanted to know.

"Found her at an apartment Sea went to. Thought she might come in handy after the ritual is done, y'know?"

"I see." Said Davis, his soft voice barely reaching Artagans ears. Other than raising his eyebrows a fraction of a millimeter, he showed no reaction. Davis was more of a tool than a person. He had lost all ambition after his first century of life, and by the end of his second he was a vegetable. Artagan's schemes just gave him something to do with his spare time. That and he wanted what the ritual would bring. The return of not only the monsters, but possibly some of the minor titans, and perhaps even an elder god, that existed before the other known deities. They were creatures that writhed in the darkness before there was anything else.

The ritual was really quite simple. One hundred half blood corpses all burned as an offering. The Olympians would never accept such a thing, but the fallen ones; they would do anything to get back on top of the pile. The sheer evil of such an act would wake them up. Sometimes he envied the Christians. It must be so simple to only have one god.

"You know Sea well." Davis stopped talking again.

Artagan began tying her up.

"I know."

Monica woke up slowly, her vision spinning as if it was a fly buzzing around her face. Her dark hair blocked her vision, and her arms and legs were bound to a chair she was sitting on. She had an incredible headache, and her mind was foggy still, as if she was in a dream.

A low chuckle came from somewhere on her right. Then she heard him, the man who had attacked her in her apartment. "So you're Sea's new plaything?" A hand brushed her hair behind her ears, and she saw his face clearly. Bloodshot red eyes, dirty blonde-ish hair, very sharp teeth. "You know girl," he whispered into her ear, his repulsive breath against her cheek, "I wouldn't mind playing with you."

He nibbled on her earlobe and grabbed both her breasts. Monica was blushing furiously. Fortunately, she had taken lessons about what to do when someone was assaulting you, due to her decision to move to New York. Unfortunately, most of the moves involved hitting the groin, so she had to improvise.

"Fuck you." She said calmly.

He stopped groping for one second. "Huh?"

Monica turned around sharply and bashed his nose with her head. She felt something warm hit her, and she knew she had been successful. Artagan was clutching his nose, but rivulets of blood still slipped through his fingers. Artagan screamed, "Little bitch!" and struck her across the face. Her chair keeled over on the impact, and she fell hard on her shoulder. Artagan set her upright again, only to slap her over once more.

He picked her up again, and raised his hand again when suddenly he stopped. His eyes darted around, and he sniffed the air. Then he grinned, a little kid at his birthday party. He slinked very close to Monica, and whispered excitedly in her ear, "He's here. It's about to start." He looked like someone watching the opening scene of a movie they had been dying to see. From somewhere, he pulled a rag, and stuffed it into her mouth. "We don't want you interrupting anything," he said as he picked her up, "so we have to put you somewhere out of the way." He put her down behind a large pile of boxes, doubled checked her bindings and gag, and slapped her ass playfully as he walked away.

Monica felt sobs rising in her throat, and tears pouring down her face. But she couldn't make a sound.

"You're late Sea" Artagan said loudly, "what took you?"

Sea walked into the warehouse slowly and looked around. The darkness was penetrated by a single beam of light, and behind it empty boxes towered like mountains.

"Where is John?" asked Sea, not bothering to respond to Artagan. Davis was resting on his chair with his head on his chin, spinning his scythe slowly between his fingers. "There."

As he spoke, John walked in, with Nico over his shoulder in a bag. He unloaded his passenger, and stood, arms crossed.

Nobody spoke.

Percy was slowly sneaking around the railing on the second floor of the warehouse. He could see everyone from up there, and was deciding which one was the most dangerous. A white haired boy he hadn't seen before was spinning a huge scythe between two fingers. That's pretty creepy. There was Sea, as dangerous looking as ever. Then there was Artagan, who was just weird. Sea was probably the biggest threat there, though he would have to watch out for the scythe kid. He stepped onto the rafters, and snuck across them until he was directly above Sea, and when the signal came, he would be able to jump down and plant the sword neatly into Sea's head. No problem.

Annabeth snuck quietly behind the piles of boxes, knife in hand. From the rafters, Percy had given the signal that everyone was there, which is why she was very surprised to find a girl, about her age, gagged and bound to a chair. Annabeth quickly cut the bindings and removed the gag. The girl had a beautiful face, wavy dark brown hair, and an amazing figure. Annabeth felt a little self conscious. "Are you okay?" she whispered. The girl opened her mouth to talk, but Annabeth covered it. "Whisper only. If they notice me then the entire plan will be ruined. Monica nodded, and Annabeth removed her hand. "I'm Monica," she said. Together they peaked out from behind the boxes. Everyone was focused on John. "Is that Sea?" asked Monica, surprised.

"You know him?"

Nico woke up right on time. He immediately coughed lightly, giving the signal for everyone to start. Suddenly everyone had their weapons drawn. Everyone except Davis. Davis had fallen asleep. There was a flash of light above Sea's head. Only Monica looked up, just in time to see Percy leap off the rafter and dive, sword first, towards Sea's head.

"Sea look out!" she screamed. Sea turned around, shock written on his face, when Riptide went straight through the right side of his chest, pinning him to the floor.

"Sea!" Monica screamed again.

Meanwhile Artagan was fighting Nico and John at the same time. Fire danced around his sword as he traded blows with Nico, and dodged arrows from John. Davis woke up then, and saw everyone was fighting. Yawning he turned around and held up his scythe, blocking Annabeth's knife perfectly. He then planted the butt of the scythe in Annabeth's sternum, sending her tumbling backwards.

Sea was still pinned to the ground, trying to pull Riptide out of him. Percy was standing flabbergasted over him.

"How the hell are you not dead?" he asked surprised. Sea replied by pulling Alumen out of his pocket, and sweeping Percy off his feet in one quick stroke. He pulled out Riptide and sat up, dazed.

"Sea!" Monica grabbed him. "We need to get out of here! You need to get to the hospital your bleeding!"

"I'll be fine. Monica how did you get here?" Sea asked, confused.

"He" she pointed at Artagan, "kidnapped me and was about to rape me when you showed up! But that's not important, we need to go!"

Sea stood up, his eyes on Artagan. He raised Alumen, and swung it at him, the whips tip hissed towards him like a bullet.

TBC


	11. Davis takes a nap

Adjusting to normality.

Chapter Nine.

Written by dippindots326

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

Alumen coiled around Artagan's neck and yanked him off his feet, knocking over Nico and John in the process. Across his face was written shock, and then glee. Sea slammed Artagan against the ceiling and then the floor, and then against the wall again.

Artagan suddenly burst into red flames and reappeared covered in fire behind Sea, and got him in a chokehold. Sea turned into a small typhoon of mist and water, and the two elementals wrestled and exploded around the room in a sphere of energy.

"Um. Now what?" said Percy as they watched them fight. Davis yawned, and Percy swung to face him.

"This has been a long time coming, so you should probably just leave them alone. Besides, you have other things to worry about."

He twirled his scythe expertly in his hand. In a millisecond the scythe and riptide collided and sparks flew. Percy growled as he stared into his opponents' impassive face. John fired an arrow from his bow, and the tip buried itself into Davis' arm. John fired again, when suddenly, the arrow slowed in mid air, along with Davis. Davis disengaged himself from Percy, who suddenly couldn't move either, and turned the arrow until the tip faced John.

Davis snapped his fingers. The arrow whizzed forward and sank into John's shoulder, and pinned him to the wall behind him. He turned around and blocked Percy's swing, and returned a blow of his own. Percy caught it on his blade and twisted the ghastly blade away from him. Suddenly, Davis flicked his wrist, and Riptide went flying. Davis swung his scythe in an arc, and a shockwave knocked percy to the ground. Percy felt riptide reappear in his pocket. He whipped it out and through it overhand at Davis' face. Davis caught it using his time powers and threw it away again. However, Percy noticed a bead of sweat on his forehead. He had given away his weakness without knowing it.

Nico appeared behind Davis and swung his black sword. It clanged against the butt of Davis' scythe. Percy began attacking him again. They both attacked as quickly as they could, but Davis easily kept up with their attacks. Sweat was trickling down his face, and his cheeks were pink.

'We're doing it,' Percy thought, 'but we need more help. He's not getting tired enough.'

Right on cue, John ripped the arrow out of his shoulder with a yell. He knocked it on his bow and fired.

"Nico, pin him!" Percy swung his sword overhead, Davis instinctively raised his scythe to catch it, and was surprised when Nico used his swords point to hold the butt of the scythe to the floor. Riptide swung in an arc and caught the blade of the scythe, holding it in place. Davis' pupils dissapeared. The arrow slowed and stopped in mid air.

"Ha...ha... idiots!" Davis yelled. "Did you really think that would work?" His face was bright red, and he was heaving.

John yelled to someone behind them. "Annabeth!"

Davis' eyes widened. Annabeth kicked him in the back, knocking him to the floor, and in the same movement twirled her knife expertly and stuck it between his shoulder blades.

Davis gasped. Then, he smiled slowly, and his eyes relaxed.

He opened his mouth and blood trickled out. "Gods I'm tired."

His eyes closed.

Monica was still watching Artagan and Sea fight. Suddenly the cloud of water and fire slammed into the ground, and the two boys leaped out of the impact. In a second, their weapons were clashing against each other. Sea was fighting with his rage, each swing containing his complete loathing for Artagan. Artagan however was grinning gleefully, the smile of those that don't care.

Suddenly Artagan feinted a swing at Sea's feet. Sea moved to block, but realized too late he had been tricked, and Alumen was knocked out of his hand by a quick bash with the flat of Artagans blade. Artagan was moving fast, faster than Sea could, and his blade was poised for a thrust straight into Sea's heart, a fatal blow to any non-immortal.

For Monica, time slowed down. She could see Artagan, his evil smile dominating his face, lunging towards Sea. Sea's face had only horrible realization across it. She saw his weapon lay on the ground, and Artagan had a free stab that Sea wouldn't be able to block. In a millisecond, she knew what to do, and in another she was sprinting towards them. The distance wasn't long, only a few yards, but she had so little time to get there.

'Damnit Sea,' her mind screamed, 'why did you have to be like this? How could you put yourself in danger like this? Why are you doing this to me?'

She slid into the two foot space between the point of Artagan's sword and Sea's heart.

Blood hit the floor.


	12. It Ends

Adjusting to normality.

Chapter Nine.

Written by dippindots326

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

Sea felt something warm and wet on his chest. Was it sea water? Sea water was warm and wet, as he recalled.

A memory of swimming in the ocean near his hometown flashed through his vision. He had been swimming with someone... Monica?

Yes, now that he thought about Monica he could feel a body that was unmistakably hers touching him. They had been swimming together in the ocean, collecting shells, building castles.

They had made a sand castle anyone would be proud of. They declared themselves the king and queen.

Monica had found a large conch shell and suggested they play catch with it. Sea fumbled his catch and felt it's sharp point sink into his chest, right at his heart.

Sea blinked and looked around him. There was Monica in front of him, but something was wrong. But what? There was a sick pain in his chest. He looked down.

Artagans thin sword had gone through Monica and penetrated him in the chest. Sea's eyes widened in horror. As he looked, water gurgled out of his mouth. Artagan was still smiling.

As he pulled his sword free there was a sickening slick noise, like dragging a stick through sand.

Monica fell forward, and hit the ground like a sack. "You lose, Sea." Artagan said. "I think I'll make you the sacrifice instead. No sense in wasting my time killing these guys when I have a perfectly good

dead person right here."

Sea felt his eyes stinging. As he collapsed, Artagan caught him, and lifted him up bridal style.

"Stop him!" John yelled, "He's going to complete the ritual!"

Artagan shook his head, like how you would to a child who made a simple mistake on a math problem. "Nothing will stop the sacrificing of the one hundredth half blood. The monsters will come back, and the fallen gods will rise again." He turned into a ball of fire, and shot through the warehouses heavy doors, leaving them swinging dangerously behind him.

Annabeth ran to Monica, and began checking her wounds.

"We have to stop him!" John said again.

"Calm down, John. It won't be hard to find him." Nico said calmly, studying something on the floor.

"What?" Percy chimed in, "He just _flew_ out the door. Do you have some creepy death magic to find him with or something?" His words were heavy with sarcasm, so he was surprised when Nico nodded.

"Since I'm a child of Hades I can feel Sea's life slowly ebbing away. It's not very good for tracking though." He stood up and smiled. "I think it would be easier to follow the scorch marks he left."

There was a stunned silence.

"Well that's fantastic," Percy said, "let's go!"

"You and John go, I'll stay here with Annabeth. My presence can help slow her death and we can probably save her." Said Nico.

Percy then noticed Monica for the first time. "Do everything you can." He said. Then he and John ran out the doors together, along the black path that Artagan had left in his wake.

"How is she?" Nico asked Annabeth, crouching beside her next to Monica. Her breath came fast and shallow.

"Well, Artagan's sword went through her side, and it looks like it skidded off her ribs. Nothing vital is hit, but it will hurt a _lot_ when she wakes up. The rib it bounced off is also broken, but she should be fine with a few weeks rest in a hospital. Of course there is the real possibility that she could bleed out."

Nico tore off a piece of his shirt, just like in the movies, and was preparing to wrap it around her when Annabeth stopped him.

"Nico, bandaging on the surface alone won't help her much. You're going to have to go behind some boxes."

Nico blinked. "What?"

Annabeth pulled up Monica's shirt a little, exposing her stomach.

"Oh, I see." Nico sprinted to a pile of boxes, and practically threw himself behind it.

Annabeth wrapped the wound tightly, hoping Monica would forgive her for the extreme pain that she would probably be experiencing soon from her broken rib being squeezed.

"Nico, I'm done. This should hold for a bit but we need to get her to a hospital, and fast."

Nico came out from behind the boxes, smiling. "No worries. I've been saving something for just such an occasion."

In his hand he had a tiny flute, so thin and translucent it seemed to be made of ice.

Percy and John didn't have to go that far after all. The trail of burns ended at another warehouse, only a dozen or so columns down. It all seemed a bit too easy.

The warehouse was completely empty on the inside, except for a stone altar, that had bundles of wood on top of it.

"Kind of ironic, isn't it Sea? You're going to burn on the altar you spent days preparing. I guess you really fell for my moron façade, huh?"

Sea spit sea water into his eyes.

"Spit all you want buddy, it's basically the only thing you can do now. You know, I didn't know that a stab in the sternum would be this effective. I must have clipped your heart or something right?"

Sea still wasn't responding. He was thinking about Monica. She was probably dead, and it was his fault. He felt his eyes growing wet again, but he held back his tears. He couldn't be weak in front of Artagan.

"Your girlfriend is dead you know."

"Not my girlfriend."

"What?"

"She was just my friend."

"Oh that's bull, you two made out."

"Shut up and kill me already."

Artagan looked amused. He had stopped flying and was just walking now. They were only a few feet away from the pyre.

"I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to offer you. Killing is a lot less painful."

He placed Sea on top of the pyre. Sea tried to move, but his arms felt like ice. The stab Artagan gave him must have seriously wounded him. "Damn… you."

Artagan chuckled. "I was wondering when you were going to start cursing at me."

Suddenly he screamed. A huge arrow protruded out of his left hand. He whirled around. Percy and John were there, looking very determined. Artagan made a fist around the arrow. It crumbled to ash in his hand. "This is getting very annoying." He twirled his sword, around and around. A vortex of scalding heat began swirling around it.

Percy charged. The second their blades collided he could feel the oppressive heat blasting his face. Their blades clashed again and again, sparks flying. John went over to Sea.

"Should I kill you?" he asked him quietly. Sea only stared at him.

Artagan shot a jet of fire from his left hand. Percy blocked it with a gust of sea mist, and delivered a jarring overhead blow to Artagan, which he barely managed to block. What Percy lacked in speed he made up for with master swordsmanship, and a host of sea powers. Artagan was quickly tiring, since it was the third time he had fought that day.

"Why are you doing this?" Percy asked, sensing that he was winning.

Artagan swept another wave of flame at him. Percy jumped it nimbly and their blades collided again.

"Because of you, our parents are locked away."

John fired another arrow at Artagan, and it was burnt to a crisp in mid-air. Percy used the distraction to cut off Artagan's left hand.

"Fuck!" Artagan screamed. Then he smiled. "No I'm messing with you. I'm doing this for many reasons, but parental love is not one of them. One reason is that _we_ aren't acknowledged at that camp of yours."

Their blades connected again. John made a jab with his bows blades, but Artagan blocked it, and swept Percy off his feet.

"We didn't even know you existed until you attacked us," Percy said as he rolled to dodge Artagans finishing blow.

"I said there were lots of reasons didn't I? Another one is because we're half titan, want to cause chaos is part of our nature. Or mine at least. This sacrifice will let free the old ones, deities older than the titans. They are mindless monsters that will reward me and allow me to rule the world."

"Why would they allow you to rule the world? Don't they want it?" asked Percy as he and John both swiped at Artagans mid section. Artagan ducked and slashed Johns leg as he dodged out.

"There are other worlds than these, Percy. Perhaps even other gods. They'll have the universe, and I'll have this planet. Pretty good deal, don't you think?"

"You're crazy." Said John.

"I've heard that one before. Why don't you join me?"

"No thanks. I think we've won this anyways."

They all stopped moving.

"What do you mean?"

Percy smiled this time. "We called Camp Half-blood a few hours ago. They're here now. You're finished."

Artagan's eyes widened. "Not yet." He walked over to the pyre Sea was still immobilized on.

"Now begins the rule of Artagan." He touched the pyre, and the wood burst into flames.

"Gods, that's unoriginal." muttered Sea.

"Shut up, Sea."

Percy pointed both his hands at the pyre. Sea mist flowed freely from them, and surrounded it, soaking the altar and the wood. The fire wasn't going out.

"Put it out, damn it!" John shouted.

"It's not going. Artagan is keeping it alive!" Sea shouted back.

"It's started burning, and it can't stop. I've won."

As he spoke, the door burst open. Campers filed in, bows drawn and weapons ready.

"Stop the fire!" yelled Percy and he and John both dashed at it. Artagan swept them back with a wave of fire. Sea was still silent on the pyre.

The room was growing colder the higher the fire got. Artagans smile was getting incredibly large.

"Kill him!" shouted a voice from the crowd, that Percy recognized as Clarisse.

Every bow fired at the same time, and every arrow struck Artagan somewhere.

He wasn't fazed at all. "It's too late," he said, "They're already entering our world. As soon as Sea is burnt up, they'll be here for good. You can't stop it now!"

Artagans arms had turned into infernos connected to the pyre, keeping the fire alive.

Suddenly, Sea propped himself up on his elbows behind Artagan.

"Hey Artagan. Guess what?"

Artagan looked surprised to hear him speak again. He turned around, raising an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

Sea burst into typhoon of sea water, drenching everyone and everything in the room.

The fire on the pyre stopped burning the second Sea left it.

"Well fuck." Artagan muttered.


	13. A New Beginning

Adjusting to normality.

Written by dippindots326

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

A/N: This is the final chapter of Adjusting to Normality. I'm planning on a sequel that features Sea as the main character, so tell me if you like that idea. I like Sea alot, and some of my readers who bother commenting have told me they like him as well. Any ideas or constructive criticism are appreciated, as always. The reason I'm leaving conventional fanfiction and moving into OC territory is because I can't be out of character if I made the character I'm writing about. Also, it's alot more fun. Thanks for reading Adjusting to Normality, and I hope you continue to read and support me :)!

Without missing a beat Artagan lit his sword on fire again, and charged straight through the center of the crowd. Right when it seemed like he was going to try to fight them all, he lit up like a flare, and was gone.

"What the hell was that?"

"A demi-titan? Those exist?"

"My gods..."

Percy was saddened to see a lack of camp t-shirts in the crowd. All of the people who had come had left the camp as well. Only Chiron still wore his, and it seemed out of place. It was kind of ironic, really.

Chiron pushed his way through the crowd. His horse body gave him a regal appearance, as he looked down at Percy.

"So we come all this way and the battle's already over?" his voice spoke of annoyance, but his eyes shined with mirth.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting Sea to explode like that. Anyways, the battle isn't over, only our part in it is."

"What do you mean Percy?" Chiron asked inquisitively.

"Artagan isn't done yet. I can just tell. Somehow."

"Well aren't you suddenly the smart one?" Clarrise asked sarcastically.

"Oh, ha ha."

Suddenly Chiron held his hand up for silence. Everybody went quiet at once. Nobody heard any sound other than the drip of water, and in a second that went quiet as well. Slowly, Chiron lowered his hand, and stamped his hoof in frustration.

"He's gone. We've lost him."

"Who's gone? Who did we lose?"

"Look around you. That boy with the blue hair. He's escaped."

There was a noticable change in the room. Everyone had become dry very fast. All the water had slipped out the door while nobody was watching. Sea, or what was left of him, was gone.

Monica woke up in a shiny white hospital room. She was under thick blankets on a bed, and her chest felt like countless needles were stuck in it. That is to say, it hurt alot.

The next thing she realized was that she only had a hospital gown and thick layers of gauze and bandages. What happened?

She remembered then, she had jumped in front of Sea, and had taken a blow for him. She thought she had been killed... but apparently not. Where was Sea now? Was he okay?

Monica instinctively reached for her shell pendant for comfort. It had been a gift from Sea. She felt around her chest. It wasn't there. Where was it? Had that other boy taken it?

She sat up in panic, and shouted in pain. The needles in her chest had been pushed in further. A nurse with a lined face ran in and forced her down into her bed again, inadverdantly pushing up her gown

under the blankets. The nurse seemed pretty annoyed.

"U-um, where is my necklace?" Monica asked timidly. The nurse threw on a plastic smile and said "It's right beside your bed dear, I'm surprised you didn't look there first."

Sure enough it was sitting on her bedside table.

"Oh, thank you." Monica muttered embarrassedly. The nurse left without replying.

Monica took hold of the delicate necklace and slipped it over her head. After wearing it through all the years since Sea had left her, it didn't feel right to take it off now.

She spent the majority of the night wondering where Sea had gone, but more importantly, if he was coming back. Before she had fallen unconscious she had seen Artagan catching Sea as he fell.

Her mother came to visit her the next day. She was gushing with tears and begging her to come back and go to a local university.

"I don't want to run the risk of you getting mugged again, dear. Please please please reconsider!"

Monica almost wanted to go. But there were several reasons she couldn't. There was a chance she could find Sea again if she stayed.

Also...

"I can't go until I graduate, mom. I'm here to study remember?"

Her mother wiped tears from her eyes and nodded enthusiastically, beaming at her only child.

Sea was important to her, but he wasn't her existence. She could deal without him, and she would prove it.

As her decision set into her heart, she felt herself inflate with confidence and determination.

Artagan seethed with frustration. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. He should have known something would have happened, but damn! He came so close.

In his mind he checked what he had accomplished.

Sea was dead. He had killed himself to put out the pyre, the bastard. Good riddance. His girlfriend too.

Davis was dead. Or was he? He was pretty sure he'd been stabbed in the back by the blonde chick. Yeah probably dead. Shame, he was a useful tool.

The demi-gods were all alive. John would probably be out of it for months though. He made a mental note to kill them all, and soon. The camp would have to go as well. Even if it didn't have many residents anymore, surely the former campers would answer Chiron's call. He'd need an army for that.. good thing he had some standing in several half-blood factions in the south. With a little bribing and some luck, he could get them to attack. Probably.

It looked like he had alot of work to do. He had told Davis of his plans and invited him to come. Davis had agreed, being the good little tool he was. Too bad he wasn't going to be tagging along after all.

But it wasn't the time to look back with regrets! He was going to be big, and powerful. His only competition was out of the picture and his enemies could be disposed of at his whim.

It was time to get to work.

Artagan set his eyes south.

And boarded an airplane.

Seas' water-blood had thrown itself into the ocean. His consciousness was focused on one thing only, itself. If he lost sense of where he ended and where the sea began, he might never reawaken.

Luckily he had practiced this trick, and it came as easily as breathing to him now. However, he was constantly being distracted by thoughts of Monica. Though it killed him to do it, he pushed her out of his mind and focused on himself. He laughed humorlessly in his mind. It sounded selfish when he put it like that.

Eventually he sensed that his physical body was fully healed, and he pulled himself out of the water. He had been floating around the same dock the warehouses were on. He was still dressed in his dark blue hoodie and jeans, and he could feel Alumen weighing down his pocket. Even though he had been floating for nearly an hour in the water, his tousled blue hair wasn't wet at all, and his clothes were dry and warm.

"I followed your spark."

Sea turned to the source of words. The speaker looked like he was barely ten. The only thing giving him away was his snow white hair, and the fact that he was twirling a giant silver scythe behind his back.

"What do you want Davis?"

Davis threw his scythe up in the air. He raised his hands in an exaggerated shrug and said "To follow you. I have nothing else to do now." The spinning scythe landed perfectly in his raised hands.

"I'm not going anywhere." Sea lied.

There was a pause. The tide came in and slopped around the dock. Somewhere a bird was chittering.

"Monica is dead." he said.

"I know, and it's my fault." Sea said bitterly. "If I hadn't gone to her, none of this would have happened. Better I die than her."

Davis raised an eyebrow. "I agree. Better you than her. But there's nothing you can do about it now. Except one thing, of course. I don't have to tell you about that."

Sea straightened up. "About what?"

"Sea, it's not your fault," Davis said, "it's Artagan's. He's the one who dragged her into this by abducting her."

"It _is_ my fault, don't you see? I knew Artagan wanted to kill me, I wanted to kill him as well. I shouldn't have gone to her until after I finished him. Don't try to make me feel better."

His hands clenched and he looked at his feet, away from Davis' unblinking stare. "I'll never forgive myself."

Davis casually stuck the scythe into the surface of the dock and sat on the staff. His hands were wrung together and he spoke again.

"It's Artagans fault." he repeated.

"Why don't you just leave me alone?" Sea shouted, looking him in the eyes again. Davis didn't blink. His eyes only seemd to hold a sadness, as if they pitied him. Sea looked away again, cheeks red.

Davis sighed. "Mortals. Always blame themselves, when their lives have been weaved already. Your fate is decided, as is only ones we can blame are the Fates. But there's nothing we can do to get back at them now is there?"

"Just get to the point, please."

"Fine. Let's face it, your fate is already decided, and so are you. You knew you were going to kill Artagan the second you crawled out of the ocean. Why don't you just accept it?"

Another pause.

"You're right, Dave. But I don't know how to find him. He isn't in New York anymore, that's for sure."

"That's why I'm here. He wanted me to come with him if this didn't work out. He's headed for Texas right now. If we board a plane right now, we can be in Austin tonight."

"What about the demi-gods?"

"What about them?"

"Nothing. I just can't leave yet. I need to at least tell her mother. I need to go to her funeral."

"I hate to break it to you kiddo, but there's no time for that. Artagans spark has just left my field of vision and that means he's already on his way. You can always see her grave later."

"You're pretty fucked up, you know that?" Sea was torn. His desire for revenge was overpowering all his other emotions, even his love... his sorrow.

Davis smiled. "Do you really think her mother will welcome you? Do you actually think that you'll be welcome at her funeral, where all her closest will come to mourn? If I remember correctly you're the one who ran away from the town, broke her prepubescant heart, and injured a bunch of kiddies along the way right? Come on. It's now or never."

Sea was convinced and Davis knew it. They stood in the morning sea breeze for a while. One minute, two...

"Let's go." He walked off in the direction of the city. Davis followed dutifully. Sea showed no emotion now, but later, later the waterworks would start.

Sea and Davis boarded the second plane headed for Austin that night, nearly ten hours after Artagan.

When Annabeth entered Percy's dorm room he was sprawled out across his couch eating blue cookies and watching Discovery Channel. He turned his head when she entered and smiled.

"Want one? My mom brought them over today. They're good." Annabeth sat next to him and took a cookie.

They chocolate chips were melted, and the cookie came apart like it was fresh from the oven.

"Where's Nico?" Annabeth asked. "Out on another date. He says he likes this one. We'll see." Percy mumbled through his chewing.

"Do you think we're still in danger?" Annabeth asked.

"No. Even if they try again, we'll be completely prepared this time around. I think Artagan relies on surprise for most of his fights."

Annabeth giggled. "I don't know, he was beating you guys pretty easily when we surprised him."

"It doesn't matter. I don't think we'll be seeing him again. Maybe we can finally get some peace and quiet around here."

"I thought you were bored out of your mind."

"I'd rather be bored than in mortal danger."

"I've heard that before."

"So what do you want to do?"

Annabeth pretended to think about it.

"I think you still owe me a movie."

"Oh yea-" Annabeth kissed him long and hard. "Did you want to do something else tonight?" Percy asked grinning.

Annabeth got up and walked to the door. "Come on, we need to see what movies are showing now." She smiled, and ducked out of the dorm.

Percy got up and followed her, shaking his head. It was always up and down with Annabeth. He felt happier than he had in a while though. He felt this way whenever he was around her, Nico, Grover, any and all of his friends. Was this how mortals always felt?

Maybe normal life wasn't going to be boring after all.


End file.
